Word: cords
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L.B.J. relished the trappings of power too much. He boasted about Air Force One and the fleet of helicopters that served him. He had telephones installed all through the White House: on table legs, behind drapes, in secret desk drawers. He had a phone put on a l00-yd. cord so he could take calls while walking on his ranch. There were three buttons on the table near where he sat The labels read, FRESCA, ROOT BEER and COFFEE. They were linked to the White House mess for instant response...
...light of all this, do you need to bank your newborn's cord blood? Again, probably not. The odds that you would use it are on the order of 1 in 100,000--compared to a 1-in-30,000 lifetime risk of being killed by lightning. In addition, you can't use a child's own cord blood to cure him. If he had a genetic condition, you'd be giving him back his old disorder. If he had cancer, you'd be giving him the same immune system that failed to defeat the cancer in the first place...
...only cases in which it clearly makes sense for you to bank cord blood are if you already have a child with leukemia or lymphoma or there's a family history of a genetic condition like severe combined immunodeficiency (the Bubble Boy disease). Here the chance that you will use the cord blood is much greater, and it's more likely to be used successfully...
Otherwise, if you have the opportunity, you should donate your child's cord blood to a public bank, like the one at the New York Blood Center. (Most hospitals are not yet equipped to handle donations.) You could save someone's life, at no cost to you. With almost 9,000 units of cord blood on hand, the New York center can find a suitable match for 60% of the 20 to 30 patients from around the globe who each week ask it to find them a donor. The center estimates it would take just 100,000 units to have...
...more on cord-blood transplants, visit www.nybloodcenter.org You can e-mail Christine at gorman@time.com